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Scientology First-hand accounts mega-thread
This thread is for anyone with first hand accounts about the horrors of Scientology.
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Miscavige Tortures & Abuses His Followers/Staff
Miscavige Tortures/Abuses His Followers/Staff
Originally Posted By BlownForGood over at OCMB @ xenu.net (It's long, but keep reading. The really sadistic stuff is toward the end) Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2007 12:13 pm Post subject: MUSICAL CHAIRS - INT BASE STYLE Subject description: IT JUST KEEPS COMING -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MUSICAL CHAIRS - INT BASE STYLE It was just another day in hell. We had been “restricted” to the CMO Int/WDC conference room for 2 months now. The basic R-factor (Reality Factor) was that until all org boards and postings for the Int Base, FB and Class V orgs were done, we were not allowed to leave. We had to sleep under our desks each night and food was brought in. We were allowed to go down to the Gold Estates Building for showers if we went down real early. We were not allowed to be around while other base staff were around. We were allowed to go to different areas of the Base, if it was regarding a specific COB order that had been issued. If we were to have been found to cross order COB in any way while we were in any areas, it was an immediate RPF assignment. For the most part there was nothing we could do. Anyone who had an external facing post was not allowed to send any traffic out. All telex lines and orders from the base were cut by COB. As all of the traffic coming from the base was cross ordering HIS strategies, he ordered no traffic be passed on by AVC to ANY orgs or management units. All of the internal facing posts were involved in the org boards and postings. The org boards and postings had been going on since the year 2000. Actually the New Years 2000 Event sealed the deal on these and was the flap of the century if you want to call that. Because the event had been ordered worked on since January of 1999, and nobody did anything on it until the end of September, it was a complete fiasco. Dave almost got speared to death by a college kid welding a 12 foot flag, his speech was written by him over night and he had no sleep before the event. All of the visuals that accompanied his speech were not ready and when he was reading his speech, pictures that had nothing to do with what he was saying were being projected on the screens behind him. The entire Event had to be re-done digitally after it was held live at the Sports Arena. This took 2 months to do over at least. The entire time this was being done, the continued statement of why the entire event had been a disaster was that NO ONE HAD A POST AND NO ONE AT THE INT BASE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING. That was in 2000 It is now 2005 and we are locked up in the conference room. This is the latest in a series of “too grusesomes” meant to make people crack under the pressure and do something that COB has asked for. COB RTC (Dave Miscavige) asked for a lot of things in a day. If one someone were to keep track of everything things he asked for and typed them up, it would take them – Oh wait he has a staff of eight people that do this as their sole function!! They are: COB Secretary COB Communicator COB Sec for Correspondence COB Sec for Compliance COB Sec for Incoming Traffic COB Sec for Outgoing Traffic COB typist COB typist The record everything he says throughout the day and then turn those tapes into streams and streams of orders that get sent out in triplicate to anybody and everybody that has anything to do with any of them. These people then have to Method 9 word clear his orders before they can even do anything on them. There are over 2000 pages of transcripts that deal solely with the subject of getting the Int Base org boards and postings done! There are lists and lists of every single different possible personnel scenario that could be put into place at the Int Base. Does CMO Gold stay its own org? Does it get put in the Exec structure of Gold? Does it move into CMO Int? Does Annie Tidman stay the CO? If it goes to Gold then she can’t still be the head as her and Lisa Schroer don’t get along that well. Does it get moved across the property, does it stay in the 400’s buildings. All of these are taken into account for each org and all of the postings that are being done. For at least the last seven years, the org boards and posting have gone like this: All of the postings get worked out by a committee of whoever thinks they are the current exec structure in charge. They order the EstoS to draw up all of the charts and pictures of everybody so it can be seen who is where. Personnel files and experience data is rarely if ever used, this is a “who would I like to do what” drill that gets done by a few people. If the persons doing this drill don’t like you, it is likely you will end up on a post that sucks. Okay, so this takes at least a few weeks and the list is almost done. There are however a few WDC and higher exec posts like Gold Div heads that are still vacant. As nobody wants to do those posts as they know that they have a very high turnover rate, the whole thing stalls out and cannot be finished. Dave Miscavige calls a meeting and then all of these people that are doing the org boards and posting get hauled up to Building 50 or the WDC conference room for 9 hours to hear what people Dave thinks should be on what posts and which people he DOES NOT want on certain posts. After this meeting, they start over on the list and have to somehow put all of the pieces back they way Dave wants them and still be able to come up with a lists that makes sense. Add into this that they had to offload 5 people and 4 people blew since the last list was made. So now they have to someone get rid of some posts or name some people that are not even at the base to take these posts once they get to Int. Oh yeah, no new people can come to the Int base until the org boards and postings are done so no new personnel arrivals have gone to Int for nearly seven years. There have been over 500 offloads (getting fired & thrown out or moved to a poor org) though. You can leave out the backdoor, but no one can come in the front. (Cue all of the LRH references that talk about what it means when personnel lines are shut down.) Oh yeah, and for the rest of the things that are not allowed until all of the Int Base Org boards and postings are done. These apply ALL INT BASE STAFF unless otherwise noted: Liberties Meal breaks longer than 30 minutes Canteen privileges Getting Married Bonuses Having rank (all Int Base staff were demoted to a rank of “Swamper” since the year 2000) Sea Org Day Promotions Thanksgiving Christmas New Years Birthdays (except COB’s) bring on the gifts! Going home to berthing (if you are directly related to getting the postings or boards done) Okay, so now back to the main story here! We are locked up in the conference room and Dave is going to come down and meet with the key execs on the music studio. It has just been redone for the fourth time and Dave wants to go over what he found when walking through the Studio that afternoon. When one of these meetings happens, you have about 20 people who just go into a room and do not come out for hours on end. You will see COB come and goes as he pleases, but the people in the room do not leave, for nothing, no bathroom breaks, no snacks nothing. When Dave leaves or is going to be gone for a bit, sometimes they can duck into a nearby room, grab a protein bar, take a bathroom break and go right back into the room for fear that he will return while they are gone. No one is allowed to come into a meeting once Dave has entered the room. Once he is in the room, it is locked down so to speak. No one comes or goes unless he directs it. Today’s meeting will be at 3PM in the CIC conference room in CMO Int. This room holds about 20 people max and that is with about 10 sitting on one side of the table and the rest standing behind them or sitting in chairs in the room behind the ones sitting at the table. The other side of the table is for Dave. He usually sits at the table and has a set variety of things that have been placed there by his stewards before the meeting: Water (specific brand that only he drinks) No one would dare drink that same brand water! Protein bars Ashtray Pack of Camel non-filter cigarettes Pens Paper Tape recorder (unless room is hardwired for recording which all Int Base conference rooms are) The attendants of this meeting are the CST guys, Russ Bellin and his staff that are running projects at the Base, CMO Int execs, and Gold Execs. Annie Tidman is there as she is directly running the Music Studio re-re-re-re-renovation and up-up-grade that is currently being done. COB (chairman of the board - David) comes in and immediately asks who has been into the studio lately. Of course only one or two people have and even they are probably lying, so he tells everybody to go and look at the main control room. The music studio is right next to CMO INT so it is a 30 second trip over there. The musicians are in there and they have a look of horror on their faces, obviously COB has been by there recently. They say he came in, asked some questions and left. We return to the CIC conference room. After a bunch of back and forth questions and guesses from us on what is wrong, we are told by Dave that the mix board was crooked and we all get sent back to the studio control room to see what he is talking about. Okay, back in the conference room he give us a lecture on mixing and how it’s done blah, blah, blah. He then asks for a copy of the “Queen’s Greatest Hits” CD to be brought down to the conference room. After it is brought down he plays the CD for us and tells us to listen. You have got to picture this. You have 20 people who probably don’t give a crap about Queen, have not eaten, are tired and exhausted do not care about mixing or at least are certainly not going to take away a whole lot in terms of learning about it today, but yet we listen… While Dave is playing the CD for us, I think during “Keep Yourself Alive” he suddenly becomes very happy and jumps up from the table. “I just had a great idea!” he says. He is the happiest any of us have seen him in months, almost in glee about this new idea that has popped into his head. He says that we should get something to eat, then get all of CMO Int rounded up and into the WDC conference room for a meeting in about an hour. He says to remove the table from the middle of the room and make sure that there are enough chairs for EVERY SINGLE PERSON to sit down. He is very clear to make sure we understand this part. The room has been cleared out. Now the WDC Conference room is much bigger than any other conference rooms on the base. It is basically two trailers put together with no walls or post to block Dave’s view of anyone on the meeting. That is why he likes meeting in this room, he can be close enough to the large amount of people in the meeting to read their reactions. Well, with the table cleared out, there is a lot of people now in the room. All CMO Int except for two Gold Execs. No one had a clue why we are there. We know that Dave was happy about some idea that he had come up while listening to a Queen album and other than that the meeting purpose is unknown. It is around 5:30PM. Dave shows up and talks about the org boards and postings, He also talks about how there have been over 500 people that have been musical chaired off post over the last 5 years. (He leaves out the part about most of them being as a result of his orders) He then asks a few people what musical chairs means. About 3 people answer with the Scientology definition of musical chairs, no one seems to know that it means something else. One guy from Programs says that it is a game. Dave has him explain the game to everybody. “Good. So you guys understand the game?” Dave asks. “Okay, well today we are all going to find out how the entirety of Scientology feels about you guys playing musical chairs with the posts of international Scientology orgs and the Int Base. We are going to play the game musical chairs, but with a twist. You are all going to walk around these chairs here, while the music plays, a chair will be removed, and whoever does not get a chair when the music stops, well, that person will be offloaded from the Int Base.” “Those are the rules and that is the game. Oh and the person who is left standing when all but one chair is pulled out will stay here and help me repost the base and get Scientology expanded. This is not a joke and I am not kidding. You guys have fucked with me (nice churchy talk, huh?) for the last time. I am going to find out right now and right here, who is the most determined to stay here.” You can imagine the horror on the faces in the room. There were about 70 people in the room and everybody knew that this was going to be a very cutthroat ordeal. And what did “offloaded” mean? There were so many definitions for this word at the Int Base that this was not so clear. To most this would mean that they were going to be given $500 put on a bus to the middle of nowhere and told to never come back. Some had the hope that it meant to a lower org maybe. To some it meant going to the RPF (prison camp) in ANZO, CANADA or AFRICA where no external trouble could be caused. There was a lot of fumbling around to get the chairs into a giant circle. Dave had the Cine Sec Gold (Federico Tisi) bring up a video camera so they whole thing could be videoed. This was going to be a major production! Dave played a few CDs. The Queen one did not work for what he was trying to do. “We are the Champions” was not the right message for this. “Mozart's Requiem Mass” was what I think he ended up using. How appropriate! Anyway, the first people to go were the usual suspects, the older, more reserved bunch. As people would leave the game, Dave had them lined up in one area of the room. He would jab comments at them and apologize for it having to end up like this. If the person was married or had a spouse in Gold, he would ask them why they had not thought about this before. “Is it real to you now?” he would ask. One guy, John Oldfield, was leaving the game. He was married to Megan Oldfield in Gold. She was a video editor and they had been married at least few years. John had tears running down his face. Dave asked him why he was crying. John said that he was going to miss Megan and that he did not want to have to leave like this. Dave said, “Well you never cried for me!” To prove that he was not kidding, Dave had one of his staff go off and come back with actual airline tickets printed up with the people’s names on them. They were handed out to people that had been kicked from the game so far. As the amount of people was getting thinner, Dave started to let the music play longer. This went on for hours. When it got down to around 20 people, it started to get VERY physical. Mark Ingber and Mike Sutter actually destroyed a chair by pulling it from each other and fighting and punching each other to let go of it. Mark Ingber actually ripped the seat of the chair from the frame and sat down on it on the floor! That counted and Mike left the game! As the final people were weeding out, people were being thrown to the ground, pushed against walls and otherwise totally fighting for a chair. If you could imagine what it would be like if pro athletes played a game of musical chairs, that was what it was like for the last 15 or so people. It was very sad to watch. People, who were best friends for years, were throwing their best friend to the ground for a chance to get a seat in a chair. Most of the people who had lost were just made to stand there and wait. Wait and do nothing except wonder where you would end up, what would you do, who would you ever see again? Most of these people knew nothing else except for the Int Base. They had very little or no family, or at least they had not seen their family in so long, they did not even know if they could go to them. No one had credit cards, bank accounts, any more than 50 dollars to their name. Very few staff had driver’s licenses and fewer had vehicles. And even if they did have a vehicle, it either did not run or had been years since they had registered or insured it. How would they live, how would they even eat? What would their spouses think of them? Would they be told that they were an SP and never hear from their family or partner again? There were now around 70 people standing off in this big group. These people were now being referred to as the “Offload Group” by Dave. 50% had either been crying or were crying at this point. The other half might have even been happy to get the hell out of there or did not care enough either way to cry. The last 4 people were Greg Wilhere, Sue Wilhere, Mark Ingber and Lisa Schroer. Mark was literally thrown aside by Greg Wilhere. Lisa beat out Greg for a seat. Sue Wilhere and Lisa Schroer walked around a single chair for what seemed to be an eternity while Mozart rang out. Then the music stopped. The music stops and both of them fight for the single seat. As fate would have it, Lisa Schroer got the seat and Sue was sent to the side. “A deal is a deal,” Dave Miscavige says to Lisa, “you can stand next to me.” “The rest of you are not done yet. We still have to figure out where you will all end up going.” At this point Dave tells everybody to split up into groups of 7 and that no couples can be in any groups. So if both you and your spouse were in the room, you would have to go to different groups so that even once offloaded, you could not be together! The groups were split into seven separate groups. 10 people in seven groups of ten. Dave asked the first group where the thought that they should go. Of course none of them could agree on one place as there were 10 different people from 10 completely different places in the world. “Okay, I know how to solve this” Dave has Marj Habshied brought into the room from here office. Marj was working in ESI as the SO#1 I/C. People would right in to ED INT from orgs all over the planet and she would answer them for him. Most of the time he would not even see the responses or even care to read them. This went on for years. Anyway, Marj was fresh on DM’s mind from this flap that had recently come up, so she would decide the fate of ten people today. DM was also careful to make sure that everyone in the room knew that no one could tip Marj off to what was going on in the room. Everybody needed to put on a happy face and not say ONE SINGLE WORD to Marj when she came in. Marj walks into the room. Dave asked her if she knows a lot about the different Conts around the world and the state of the Scientology orgs in each. She said that she was very knowledgeable about this as she gets letters from all areas and knows which ones complain about what in each area. Dave asked her to tell him which one that she felt was the worst of all. She hemmed and hawed a bit, but eventually came up with Canada. Dave had someone sent off to fetch the Org photos binders for Canada that exist in the Landlord office. These photos were weekly updated binders of all orgs and Sea Org units in Canada. Marj was asked to wait by Dave until the photos arrived. Little did Marj know that she was actually deciding where ten people would end up going after being offloaded tonight. ]The photos arrive and sure enough there are pictures of black toilets crusted in filth, 15 beds in a single room at the CLO berthing, Showers with green mold on the tiles, etc. The photos were horrid. In the binder it had said that the CLO had been broken into just a week prior and that the CLO was behind on rent and the crew had not been paid in many weeks. The CLO was not making enough money to purchase food for the crew and some had been working on missions in the orgs so that they could get food and berthing money to support at least themselves. Dave asked Marj if she was sure that this is the Cont that she considered the worst of all. She agreed and was dismissed. As soon as she left the room and was out of earshot, Dave said that the first group would be going to Canada. Dave then asked the next group who they thought the most out ethics person on the base was, This person was brought up to the room and then their Cont was picked out. This went on for at least an hour, Dave reading out things about the Cont, showing the pictures around the room, making sure that everybody could see that any place they went was going to suck and that no matter what, the INT Base was a resort compared to any of these places. Now all Conts were picked. 1. CANADA 2. AFRICA 3. ANZO 4. PAC 5. EAST US 6. WUS 7. CC INT The CC Int team was given their Cont by Dave. He had asked that he get to decide one Cont. CC Int did not seem like that bad an area compared to the rest. There had to be a catch. The team assigned to CC INT would be a cleaning team specifically and that is all that they could do. They were a cleaning team that was assigned to ONLY PUBLIC areas and Celeb areas. Dave said that if they were going to get to go to CC they should be able to get to see celebrities and that that he would make sure that they did. “Ashtrays, toilets, trash cans and Celebrities will be your life.“ Just when everybody thought that the torture was over, Dave says “Well, you have got to have uniforms too” Dave then asked the CC INT team if they could think of someone who they thought was hip or cool. Becket Wells was brought up as a person that was up on the latest fashions and styles. “Good” Dave says, “get him up here.” Dave makes sure everyone knows that the same rules apply; NO ONE tells Becket what is happening or says anything to him at all. ONLY Dave is allowed to talk to him. Becket walks in and Dave tell him that we are all doing an exercise and that Dave wants him to pick out some uniform parts for some crew to wear. He asks Becket to describe the most hideous outfit that anyone would ever want to wear. The outfit would end up being: 1. Pink running shoes 2. White socks that went past the knee 3. A huge Cowboy belt buckle 4. Bright green short shorts 5. A pirate shirt with 4 inch black buttons on the chest 6. Fluorescent yellow waist pack 7. Red Riding hood - hood “That is Hideous” Dave said and then thanked Becket for his help. As Becket left the room, Dave Miscavige turned to the CC Int team and said that that would be their uniform and that they had to wear it whenever they were in ANY public areas. He also specifically added that they could not EVER pick trash up with any sort of tool. It always hand to be handled with the hands, same with ashtrays, they were to dig the butts out with their bare hands and no tools could ever be used except in the case of toilets or urinals - they could use a sponge or greenies, but no gloves or extended brushes. Just when we thought it all was over and we could at least get off to out Conts. Dave asked that each group pick one person amongst themselves that everybody could agree was the worst of the pack. The most out ethics, most disliked whatever. The least liked person from each group was singled out. By this time, how could it get any worse? Dave said that each of these most disliked people would be writing the issue assigning one OTHER group to the Cont they were being sent to! And it would be signed COMMANDER. So Mark Ingber who was going to Canada, was writing the issue for the PAC group and it was going to be coming from COMMANDER MARK INGBER. This was being done for all the groups and everybody had an issue that was being written by someone who was also being offloaded, but just not to the same area! Each group had their issues written up by hand. Each group was then charged with getting the issues proofread, typed and copied and ready for distribution. Once all this was done. Dave gave everybody a final pep talk. He asked if anyone had anything to say. NO one did. He said that the buses would be ready to leave at 6AM. It was now 1AM. Each person would need to be ready to go and NO items would be going with them except for the clothes on their backs. Of course, anyone with spouses had already secured for the night, anyone who had friends, family, co-workers or people that they wanted to talk to before leaving were unable to be contacted. The buses would be long gone BEFORE any of these people would be coming in for post. All of the phones were ripped out of the room so that no calls could be made to other parts of the base where staff might be working late. All communication lines were cut. About 30 minutes after the meeting had ended, there were a few people saying how this was the “last chance people would have to make things right in their S.O. careers” and that “if they made the Conts expand, they probably would be able to come back to the Int Base one day far, far in the future.” An hour later, all the different groups had found their way back to their little space under a desk or in a chair and most people had gone to sleep for the night. Sobs and faint crying could be heard for hours throughout the room. If you were not crying yourself to sleep that night, someone else was doing the crying for you. THE MORNING AFTER: The crew were rounded up and mustered. Change of plans. NO ONE IS GOING ANYWHERE! Turns out it is going to cost a fortune to fly all of these people all over the place and the logistics were not finalized on how everybody would be shipped off to the different Conts. Dave had called down late during the night and said that he was not willing to waste one money single cent of Church money dealing with the Int Base SPs Some people might end up going later in the day, and some might end up going that night providing everything was properly worked out. The day went by painfully slow. No one knew who was doing the logistics workouts and no one was leaving the “SP room”. It was just more torture, everyone waiting, but nothing they could do. Days would go by and nothing ever happened. Dave Miscavige actually ended up leaving the base and going off somewhere for a Legal Case and the whole thing sort of faded away. Everybody just assumed that whenever the logistics got worked out, they would get shipped off to their Cont and until then they would make the best of it. Later we would all find out that NO ONE HAD EVER WORKED OUT ANY FLIGHTS, COSTS, OR ANYTHING. It was all just one big pile of shit. Dave Miscavige never intended for anyone to leave, be offloaded to ANY Conts or wear ridiculous outfits while scrubbing urinals by hand. But he wanted us to all think that we were! More than TWO YEARS LATER, the SP ROOM, SP HALL or whatever you want to call it is filled with pretty much the same people that played Musical Chairs that one night. Those who could blow, did. Those who played it smart DID actually get offloaded to some Conts then blew from there. But there are still many left: 1. Arbuckle, Mary – ex Typesetter I/T R Comps 2. Bellin, Russ – ex CO CST 3. Biggs (Knapmeyer), Alison – ex R Comps Programs Ops 4. Blankenship, Angie – ex COB Project Ops, Local Programs Ops 5. Bloomberg, Dave – ex MEI, ED ASI 6. Bolstad, Pam – ex CO’s Comm CST 7. Buglewicz, Pat Lawrence – ex Incomm Rep Int 8. Cruzen, Richard Gilman – All–around man (has been Audio Prod Sec, Manufacturing Sec, R Comps Sec, CMU Sec, AVEI, RAV, etc.) most successful as Audio Mixer 9. Greilich, Russ Lyle – ex LRH Lecture Mix I/C, Audio Prod Sec 10. Hughes, Gregory Kenneth Snr. – ex Int Finance Dir, GIEI, WDC WISE 11. Ingber, Liz – ex Admin Compiler, CO CMO Gold 12. Ingber, Mark Allen – ex Admin Comps I/C R Comps, CO CMOI, WDC Pubs 13. Jaramillo (Yager), Michelle Lynette – ex Book Editor RComps, Proofreading I/C, Port Captain CMOI, Snr Messenger 14. Jentzsch, Heber – ex President CoS 15. Koon, Susan Jane – ex Compilations Dir RComps (RTRC Dir) 16. Lemmer, Kathy – ex CO Incomm, CO Gold 17. Lemoine, Robert – ex Dir Maintenance & Policing Incomm Int 18. Leserve, Guillaume – ex ED Int 19. Light, Janet – ex President IASA 20. Linson (DeVocht), Jenny – ex CO CMOI, CO CMO CW 21. Mason, Aron – ex IMPR Scriptwriter, IMPR, Dir PR OSA I, Freedom Mag Editor OSA I 22. Mithoff, Raymond H. – ex IG Tech, Snr C/S Int, Tech Compiler RComps 23. Moresi, Bruno – ex Int Project 4th CST 24. Reynolds, Wendell A. – ex Berthing Construction I/C, Int Finance Dir, CO Gold 25. Rinder, Catherine Albertina – ex R Comps Tape Editor, Compiler, D/CO Prod CMOI 26. Schless, Peter Harrison – ex Music Dir Gold, Freedom Medal Winner 27. Schwartzgruber, Rita – ex ED Int, CO CMO IXU? 28. Spurlock, Lyman Doyle jr. – ex Int Finance Dir, Building 36 Sanitation Engineer, RTC Legal man without a post title 29. Starkey, Norman F – ex MCI Cleaner, AVC Aide, Trustee ASI 30. Swartz, Fredric Samuel – ex Shrinkwrap Operator Dissem, GIEI 31. Tisi (Feshback, Charbonneau), Katherine – ex Qual Sec Gold 32. Trussell, Bert – ex Int Project 3rd CST 33. Weiland, Kurt – ex CO OSA Int, CO CMOI 34. Weinberg, Rena – ex ED ABLE Int, Freedom Medal Winner 35. Wheelis, Michele – ex O/O CST 36. Wilhere, Sue – ex Compilations Dir R Comps 37. Willis, Tom – ex Dir R&D CST 38. Vorm, Tom – ex D/CO Prod CST 39. Yager, Marc A. – ex IMPR Events Execution Off,CO CMOI, D/CO Prod CMOI, IG Admin, Snr Messenger In my next post, I will tell exactly how to get a family member or friend out of the Int Base. How could I know? I have done it with three people so far and it works every time. Until next time… BFG |
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Paulette Cooper's 15 Year Nightmare
Paulette Cooper's 15 Year Nightmare
http://www.agoravox.com/article.php3?id_article=7675 The Scandal Behind the "Scandal of Scientology" What happened to the woman (me) who first blew the whistle on Scientology in a book titled "The Scandal of Scientology." I tell the whole story this year for the first time... The Scandal behind "The Scandal of Scientology" By Paulette Cooper You may not believe this, but you can write something that some group doesn’t approve of and then have a quarter of your life almost ruined. I know because it happened to me. I haven’t previously written about this from beginning to end because it’s still painful, but here goes. In 1968 I was a struggling New York freelance writer, searching for an investigative story that would make a difference. I was already used to controversy — and publicity — when a year earlier I had successfully stowed away on an ocean liner and wrote an article (and sold movie rights) about it that had appeared all over the world. But when I next decided to expose a then relatively unknown organization called Scientology (and the related Dianetics) I ended up arrested, facing 15 years in jail, had 19 lawsuits filed against me all over the world by Scientology, was the almost victim of a near murder, was the subject of 5 disgusting anonymous smear letters sent to my family and neighbors about me, and endured constant and continual harassment for almost 15 years. I had obtained a master’s degree in psychology and had studied comparative religion at Harvard for a summer. So I became interested in researching a newly-popular quasi-religious mental-health cult founded by science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard. I started by writing an article exposing Scientology for a prestigious English magazine, Harper/Queen, and expanded this into a book. In it, among other things, I stated that the crux of Scientology- their e-meter which they say acts like a lie detector-produced questionable results; that Hubbard had lied about his credentials; that Charles Manson had called himself a Scientologist; that some auditors had behaved improperly toward their "parishioners"; that some who left may have feared being blackmailed; that some defectors claimed that they had been psychologically damaged by Scientology, financially ripped-off, and/or harassed when they tried to leave or speak out. I got used to telephone death threats, harassing calls — and lawsuits. Strange people seemed to be trying to gain access to my apartment. Then, in the basement of my small building, I discovered alligator clips on my phone wires-likely the remnants of a phone tap. Next, my cousin- who was also short and slim like me— was in my apartment alone when a man arrived with a “flower delivery" for me. When she opened the door, the intruder pulled a gun out of the flowers and put it to her temple. Fortunately, the gun jammed, misfired or was empty. The man then began to choke her, and when she pulled away and screamed, he ran off. The police said afterward that they were mystified, because there appeared to be no motive for the attack. I quickly moved to a safer doorman building. But soon afterwards, 300 of my new neighbors received an anonymous smear letter about me, outrageously describing me as a part-time prostitute! Then, a few weeks later, I received a visit from a pompous FBI agent named Bruce Brotman. He said the spokesman for the Church of Scientology in New York, James Meisler, claimed to have received 2 anonymous bomb threats and named me as a likely suspect. I didn’t take it seriously until I was called to appear before a federal grand jury and was shocked to learn that I was the target (suspect). I had to hire a top law firm — I chose one headed by Charles Stillman—who required a $5,000 retainer on my meager freelance income. Little did I realize that they would ultimately cost me $28,000 (like $75,000 today) and they would unsuccessfully sue me after the case was over for even more money! Even worse, during the grand juryh, the prosecutor, John D. Gordon III, told me that if this Grand Jury decided that I had sent Scientology the 2 bomb threats, I faced 5 years in jail for each letter,5 more for perjury for denying it, and $15,000 in fines. He showed me the letters, and I truthfully testified that I had never touched or seen them before. Then Gordon dropped the real bomb. “Then how did your fingerprint get on one of them?” he asked. I was so shocked I think I momentarily lost consciousness, because the room turned upside down. I then rightly explained that Scientology could have obtained a blank piece of paper that I had touched, and typed threats on it afterwards. But Gordon was unconvinced. On May 9th, 1973, I was indicted on all 3 three counts by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. And 10 days later I was arrested, released on my own recognizance, and forbidden to leave the state without the court’s permission. For months, I could taste the anxiety in my throat. I was in a total panic. I could barely write, and my bills, especially legal ones, kept mounting. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. I smoked 4 packs of cigarettes a day, popped Valium like M&Ms, and drank too much vodka. I worried obsessively about the possibility of going to jail. And about my career. I had been doing extremely well. I had 4 books out or about to come out and I wasn’t yet 30. But once this story came out at trial, what editor would give an assignment to a writer accused of sending bomb threats to the people she wrote about? I had wanted to be a writer since I was 8 years old, and my dream life was about to be over. I was also very concerned about my parents. They had adopted me from an orphanage in Belgium when I was 6, and I had always tried to make them proud of me. However, I knew they would soon be humiliated when the trial started. Especially since the sexual revolution was going on then, and young people were also experimenting with pot, considering horrifying by adults (and jurors no doubt!) in those days. As a single photogenic woman involved in a bizarre case, I knew I would become a page 1 scandal for the tabloids during the anticipated 3-week trial. I tried desperately to prevent a trial. made a writing barter arrangement with a private investigator, Anthony Pellicano-the same one in jail and in the news now — but he did nothing. I also volunteered to take lie-detector tests to prove my innocence. But they returned contradictory and inconclusive results, although not surprisingly, they did show me to be highly stressed. My state of mind got worse when the man I had been dating for a year and planned to marry, a lawyer named Bob Straus, left me. Most of my friends also stopped calling because I was so obsessed with the horrors that were happening that it was all I could talk (or think) about. Fortunately, an editor friend at the New York Times stuck by me and called me the night of my 30th birthday. She kept me on the phone for hours to stop me from continuing to take the entire bottle of Valium I admitted that I had started to take that evening to end it all. Another loyal friend was a new one, an understanding young man named Jerry Levin,a short smiling redhead, who moved in with me late that summer. Since I was too depressed to go out much, he did my errands and walked my dog Tiki while I compulsively watched the Watergate hearings. Occasionally, he would persuade me to go up to the rooftop pool with him at night when no one was there. He was a gutsy guy, and he would leap up to the 33-story high ledge and try to get me to join him. “You have to be brave if you’re going to take on those bastards,” he’d say. But I huddled below, a shadow of my former adventurous self. Toward the beginning of September, I was in such a bad state that I even became slightly suspicious of him. I questioned him, and he turned on me, saying I had become so totally paranoid that I no longer even trusted my closest friend. Then he too walked out of my life, leaving me alone to face the trial. Well, not quite. The lawyers wanted my parents to sit in the front row (to gain sympathy for me) — which upset me even more. The court date, October 31, 1973, was approaching. Then, a University Professor and researcher from Scotland, Dr. Roy Wallis, came to interview me. Earlier, he had interviewed others who had left Scientolog,y and one (L Ron Hubbard Jr., the son of the founder) was seemingly involved in my frame-up, Boastfully, he gave Roy a letter he wrote to his father, Hubbard Senior, saying he could "bring the enemy to their [sic] knees” - — and he suddenly purchased an expensive house right after I was indicted. Roy brought this and other information he had gathered on Scientology’s dirty tricks to Gordon, who had a growing file I had also given him on Scientology’s “fair game law”: That stated that an “‘enemy’ of Scientology”-such as me-”May be...injured by any means by any Scientologist...May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.” But no prosecutor wants to give up a high publicity case. And the Government doesn’t like to admit they are wrong once they arrest someone. So I started searching for a doctor to give me a truth-serum test. After months of barely eating, I weighed only 83 pounds by then, and my health had deteriorated from the stress. Doctors refused to do it, saying I could die from the anesthesia. But I didn’t care. I had decided to kill myself right before the trial rather than humiliate my parents (and myself) once the news stories came out. Finally, a neurologist, Dr. David Coddon of Mount Sinai Hospital, agreed, and after several hours of questioning me while I was out, he was so convinced I was innocent, that he said not only would he testify for me, but that he would chain himself to the courthouse steps if they proceeded with this case. (Just what I needed; more publicity!) On Halloween day, 1973, the government postponed — and ultimately canceled — the trial, agreeing to file a nolle prosequi. I went into therapy for a year, and the depression lifted somewhat. But the memories and pain remained. Furthermore, the threat of a trial and scandalous publicity remained over my head, because the government could still try me, and the press could still discover that I had been arrested for sending bomb threats and ruin me. So for four years, I was bitter—and broke—feeling that everything I had done was right and it had all come out so wrong. People continued to call me for help on Scientology (unaware of what I had just gone though,) and since no one else was doing anything or speaking out against them, I continued to. I worked (gratis) to help Scientology’s victims, which included those they were suing or who were suing them, So the Scientologists kept suing me, and never let up on the harassment. For example, when they found out I had seen a shrink, they broke into his offices and stole my records to find out what I had said during therapy—then sending excerpts about them to my friends and parents. Nice, eh? And then in July of 1977, I was shocked — and thrilled-to read front-page stories in the Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and in fact news papers all over the world that documents had just been found seizedd within the Scientology organizations revealing that they had once framed a writer critical of them — me. It seems the FBI had raided 3 Scientology offices and seized internal memos and “dirty trick” papers. I was so happy that at last I would be able to prove my innocence, which had become an obsession with me. But it took me 4 more frustrating years (during which time they sent more lawyers and unscrupulous private investigators against me ) before I finally saw those documents. And then, I finally reviewed the secret internal documents, which detailed some of the nasty stuff they had done not only to me but to anyone who had ever said or done anything against Scientology. As I later told Mike Wallace when I was on 60 Minutes, discussing the frame-up "Scientology turned out to be worse than anything I ever said or even imagined." For example, one series of documents 1976, was a plot of theirs called "Operation Freakout." to get me "incarcerated in a mental institution or jail or at least to hit her so hard that she drops her attacks” on Scientology. It seems that after the first frame-up—a plot they apparently called "Operation Dynamite"— had failed to imprison (or silence) me, they plotted again to make it look like I was making bomb threats against them and others with fake threats sounding eerily like the ’72 ones. But also in the documents was a strange diary someone wrote of what I did each day during the “frame-up” period, and how close I was to suicide. “Wouldn’t that be great for Scientology?” the person wrote Also in the documents was a strange diary someone wrote of what I did each day during the “frame-up” period, and how close I was to suicide. “Wouldn’t that be great for Scientology?” the person wrote. And then I realized the writer could only have been Jerry Levin. He must have been a Scientologist whom they sent to spy on me and help Scientology set me up. He and his friends, Paula Tyler and a woman calling herself Margie Shepherd (who may be Linda Kramer from Boston, who married and may be Linda Kobern), had been in and out of my old apartment back when the threats were sent. And they could have had access to paper on which Scientology could have obtained my fingerprint and then typed the threats And even now I still wonder: why did Jerry want me to go up on that ledge with him? If he had pushed me over, everyone would have simply assumed that in my depressed state of mind, and rather than face a trial, I had committed suicide. Operation Freakout indeed. A new grand jury in New York spent 3 years investigating my frame-up. Alas, the case went nowhere because the Scientologists refused to talk. One a Charles Batdorf, was even jailed for refusal to speak about my frame-up. But a simultaneous Washington, D.C., grand jury (and trial) ultimately jailed 11 Scientologists who were involved in wiretapping, infiltration and theft of government documents. Some had also been involved in the harassment and frame-up of me so I finally had some justice.. I also initiated my own legal actions against Scientology while they piled on more suits against me. In 1985, we reached an “amicable” settlement of all lawsuits. Indirectly, through the lawyer who handled this settlement, I became reacquainted with Paul Noble, a New York TV producer, whom I had dated when I was in my 20’s, long before this all happened. Paul and I have been very happily married for 19 years now. I went on to write 11 more books, win 6 writing awards (including 2 for "The Scandal of Scientology,") do some travel writing, and have a newspaper column on pets. True, it’s not as "glamorous" as the investigative reporting I did with Scientology, but at least dogs don’t harass and cats don’t sue. I also quit smoking, barely drink, and try to forget what happened. Try. But when I turn on the news or my e-mail, I’m often reminded of the years of torment I endured. Whenever I hear about litigation,or depositions, I remember the years (and money) I spent fighting the 19 lawsuits they filed against me from all over the world that I had to defend—not to mention undergoing 50 days of depositions. Or I read about something like prosecutor Nifong’s going after the innocent Duke soccer player and I am reminded of what it was like for an innocent person to be prosecuted. Me. Or someone will send me internal information, like an affidavit from a person who has left Scientology, e.g., Margery Wakefield. She swore that "The second murder that I heard planned was of Paulette Cooper, who had written a book critical of Scientology, and they were planning to shoot her...” Other names keep bringing me back as well. My useless private investigator, Anthony Pellicano, is all over the news. My former attorney Charles Stillman often defends high-publicity clients. like the Reverend Moon. Bob Straus, the boyfriend who left me, went on to head a large New York organization that investigates judges. John D. Gordon III is with the high profile law firm of Morgan Lewis. Bruce Brotman retired from the FBI and negative news stories appeared about him when, as head of security at Louisville Airport, he refused to go through the airport’s security system, reportedly saying, “I make the rules.” Dr. Roy Wallis committed suicide in 1990, blowing his brains out when his wife left him. Dr. David Coddon died in 2002. And while I’ve never heard further of James Meisler or Charles Batdorf, I heard that Jerry Levin-which I’m sure was not his real name-is still a Scientologist. I often wish I had never ever heard the word “Scientology,” but despite all that happened, I would still have done it all today, because no one else was speaking out against them and someone had to. (Now, thanks to the Internet, others are doing it) I would not have been capable of remaining quiet because I learned too many scary things and talked to too many people who were being hurt to turn my back on them. Sometimes, though, I get discouraged because Scientology gets so much publicity from people like Tom Cruise, John Travolta, etc. And I wonder whether it was worth wrecking my life when they seem so powerful again. But then I remind myself that I did reach and help a lot of people. My book sold 154,000 copies (legal actions and loss of income cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars) and each copy appears to have been read by many people. In addition, it’s now available free on the Internet in several languages. Finally, some of the people who read my book (or the story of what they did to me) on the Internet, also write to thank me, and that gives me satisfaction. My favorite was the man in his 50’s who e-mailed me to say that years ago, after learning the truth about Scientology from me, he left them, married, has 4 children (2 are twins) and now runs a computer company employing 40+ people. He wrote to tell me that he feels that I am responsible for his happiness. That reminded me of why I did what I did, and why we journalists do what we do: we try to tell the truth so that we can help others. Unfortunately, we sometimes pay a terrible price for it. Paulette Cooper _________________ I AM NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANONYMOUS. |
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#4 (link to here) |
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Emma's Liberation
Liberation I want to thank some people. 7 years ago in March I left Scientology. Since then I've gradually put my life back together, slowly dropped the indoctrination and done my best to counter the CoS and help those who have left the church. Today I went to a picket. It was something I never thought I'd do. A big part of that is the lack of critics here in Melbourne Australia, but even more than that I was scared. Today I had made up my mind not to go. I knew it would be a historic moment that I would miss. I knew I would be sorry I didn't go but I'd given myself enough excuses to make it right in my head to not go. Then I was standing in my livingroom, doing chores that had all of a sudden become important to do this day, when it occured to me that I was still scared of them and that was the real reason I didn't want to go. And that made me mad. So I got in my car and drove into town with my daughter. Initially I was just going to drive around the block honking my car horn in support. But when I got there I saw all these people who weren't afraid. Magically a car space appeared right out the front of the Org and I knew I was going to get out. As I filmed with my crappy camera with my daughter holding my hand something happened. I wasn't scared any more. This is a wonderful thing to happen to me. I was scared of them for 9 years in Scientology, and I've been scared of them for 7 years since leaving Scientology. 16 years is a long time to be frightened of a totalitarian group in this day & age in my country, Australia. So I want to thank every single person who, although perhaps scared themselves, speaks out against this cult. I want to thank the critics who have documented the crimes, written the stories, done the research and taken a stand. I want to thank Anonymous for having the amazing ability to, as a group (wdne) , listen & understand & change and arrange these peaceful protests that have liberated me personally from the hold Scientology had on me. I hope everyone who can physically make it, attends one of these protests. It was life changing for me, and I hope that it can be the start of a something that changes a whole lot more lives. Link: http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?t=3852 |
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#5 (link to here) | |
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A Letter From the "Inside" - Not Free to Speak
Okay, so today I was sent a message from someone who I KNOW is currently IN Scientology. This person has been in for at least 30 years, and is not likely getting out anytime soon on their own. This person works for a Scn company, has Scn freinds and has basically known nothing else their entire life. When this person sent me this message today it came as a complete shock to me. I was sure that they would be on the defensive about Anonymous and eager to find out what to do to stop them. Not the case. The person asked me if I could get a message to Anon. I guess they knew that I was not the dedicated Scientologists that I used to be. Well either way, I am posting their message here in full and un-edited. I have taken nothing out and I have not added anything. Needless to say, if this is a benchmark for what the average Scientologists is thinking, the end is nearer than than we could have ever hoped for. Again the message below is directed to Anonymous and is from a current member of the Church of Scientology. I did not write it, I am not saying that I am agreement with it or disagree with it, I am just forwarding it so that maybe it will be seen by Anonymous and they will then know what some cross section of Scientologists wish. I will say this, I think even the Scientogists have picked sides on this battle, and it's not David Miscavige's side! Until next time... BFG MESSAGE FROM SCIENTOLOGIST STARTS HERE: Quote:
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